Parliament to focus on budget, economy

Malcolm Turnbull is aiming to return the political spotlight to jobs, growth and repairing the budget as the 45th parliament begins.

Liberal and National MPs and senators will meet in Canberra on Monday, as will the Labor caucus, to discuss strategy and endorse legislative priorities.

After the traditional church service on Tuesday morning, the prime minister, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, 148 other MPs and 76 senators will go through the opening formalities before getting down to business on Wednesday.

Among Mr Turnbull's priorities for the week will be introducing an "omnibus bill" including $6.5 billion in budget savings, which the government remains hopeful of receiving Labor support because they resemble the opposition's election promises.

The prime minister, whose government holds a bare minimum 76 lower house seats and 30 in the Senate, will also push ahead with legislating a decade-long plan to reduce tax on small, medium and large companies and bring some relief to middle-income earners.

The opposition is expected to back the income tax cuts but only supports the small business element of the company tax cuts at a lower threshold than proposed by the government, and Mr Turnbull will need to either get the nine Greens on side in the Senate or nine of the 11 crossbenchers.

Workplace law changes will also be brought in, including the two triggers for the July 2 double-dissolution election - reinstating the Australian Building and Construction Commission and setting up a Registered Organisations Commission with tougher checks on union finances and penalties for corruption.

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In addition, Mr Turnbull pledged during the election to bring in laws to protect volunteers in the wake of the Victorian CFA dispute, which could face a tough time getting through the Senate.

It is unclear whether proposed superannuation changes will be brought to the coalition joint party room meeting for endorsement on Monday or left for further negotiation, following criticism by Labor, the Greens, coalition backbenchers and industry lobbyists.

Mr Turnbull says scaling back concessions for the most wealthy retirees is a fair way of repairing the budget and once done the government has no further plans for changing the superannuation ground rules.

The Greens, who unlike Labor support the backdating of a $500,000 cap to 2007, may be the key to passing the super reforms.

Treasurer Scott Morrison will take a high-profile role over the week, in the wake of his warning of a $1 trillion debt blowout in the next decade should the new parliament fail to back his budget savings.

The Labor opposition, which will comprise 69 lower house MPs and 26 senators, has said if the government puts up budget measures that match its election promises then they will pass.

The opposition is expected to attack the government on multiple fronts, including Medicare, the census computer debacle, a banking royal commission and the same-sex marriage plebiscite, while positioning itself as an alternative government with billions of dollars of its own proposed budget improvements.